I went with visiting friends to O Grove yesterday to experience the internationally famous seafood festival there. We made it easy for ourselves by arriving at exactly the same time as everyone else. And so it was that it took me 45 minutes to find somewhere to park and we had to take it in turns in the 50m queue for the mejillones tigres. But the bottle of albariño helped. This event has grown enormously since I first visited it fourteen years ago. So much so that they now have not one but two huge marquees. (For American readers, this means 'tents' in British English. Not 'canopy' or 'sign').

Talking of the sea . . There's a white fish known as coley or pollock in the UK. Seeking to market it as an eco-friendly replacement for endangered cod and haddock – and aware that customers didn't like asking for pollock as it's close to bollocks – the supermarket chain, Sainsburys, decided to re-label it colin. Which is odd, as it means hake in French, I believe. Anyway, it's quite nice having a fish names after you.

An English friend married to a Spaniard told me yesterday that, when her husband had asked her to pass something, she'd used the time-honoured phrase - “And what's the magic word?”. The husband looked non-plussed for a second or two and then replied - “Immediately?”

Finally . . . If you're planning to travel in Spain, you may find this Spanish Fiestas site useful on Facebook, Twitter or Google.